Garment a Month Project: May update

One set of pj's is finished! Ta-Dah!!!!

I would have taken a few extra shots but the cat decided to interrupt the photo shoot with her attention seeking. How could any child resist so much cuteness?

I made the set a half-size too big. This way it is roomy without over-powering her frame, but most importantly she has room to grow. These will last her all summer long and well into autumn. Bring on the growth spurt! This time I am ready!

You can see my little stitches in the inside of the collar. I still hand finish collars, as it saves hours of fighting with and swearing at my machine. I went for double thick thread and larger stitching (instead of hidden ones) as it will need to stand up to washing, wearing, and some serious pillow fights.

On the inside I finished every seam to keep those pesky frayed edges at bay. For the curving bits (the arm-holes and crotch), I made and used my own bias tape. Each seam was visited twice or even three times before it was considered finished. It doubled my work load, but I think the cleaner finish- not to mention longer wear- was worth it.

The daughter is very happy with her first pair, and after her first night trial run declared them "comfy." Now I only have 6 more pairs to go!

Garment a Month Project: May

School camp is the first week of June and her birthday sleep-over is the last week. That's a lot of public pj's time! Seeing as how her last growth spurt turned all her pj tops into belly shirts and the pants into shorts, it's time for new ones. I am making the daughter 7 pairs of pajamas. The garment of the month goal for May is complete two of them (one for each night of camp).

I plunked her down in front of Hawthorne Threads and told her to pick whatever caught her eye. Her final "favorites" list totaled 44! We whittled away the choices until 7 patterns remained. The fabric was then ordered, delivered and subsequently pre-washed. Ready to go!

Next came the pattern. I wanted to try my hand at pattern alteration so chose to modify one I found in Burda Style Magazine, March 2010 edition (pattern #137: girl's jacket). I am hoping something like this will be a good learning experience.

I modified the coat by:

• rounding the collar edge to make it more of a Peter Pan shape. I used the pocket as a guide so the curves matched.
• shortening the sleeves
• lengthening the hem to make it fit mid-hip rather than at the waist
• moving the pocket to the breast and decreasing the number of pockets from 2 to 1

After I carefully traced the pattern, I added 5/8" seam allowance. I want to self-seal the seams and this is a great allowance to do that. For the pants, I am using a pattern I already had for a pair of very easy, elasticated waist pants. The only modification is to crop them below the knee instead of at the ankle.

Today I am cutting the pattern out of muslin to do a test run and check the fit. See? I finally learned my lesson!

Vacation Recap: Edinburgh Castle

After visiting Alnwick, we headed straight into Edinburgh and right to our hotel. It was great getting in later in the day: we could unpack and rest and be ready bright and early the next morning for all day exploring. I chose one just a short 4 minute walk away from the Royal Mile- which meant everything else was in walking distance as well. Walking is healthy and greener, which I never failed to mention when anyone complained their feet hurt. Of course, turn about is fair play and my family reminded me of this fact. Often. In all honesty I think I complained about feet the most.

I am a huge fan of pre-planning, and every trip I drag along a full-sized, several inches thick itinerary binder filled with everything from maps (from place to place in the order we will be seeing them) to e-ticket stubs to opening and closing hours to alternate things to do in case something is shut. Even a little calendar with times blocked off for attractions, meals, and estimated travel times.

Believe it or not, I am not crazed. Really. Every night we discussed the next day and made tweaks and changes depending on what we learned by actually being there- regardless of what the great red travel binder said. For instance, being there led to the quick discovery that the Royal Mile is on the side of a hill, and our hotel was somewhere in the middle. The easy solution was to chop our walk in half and split it over two days. You know, in respect of my feet and all.

I don't think we could have wedged any more activities into our 3 days, even if I had a vat of lard and shoe horn to help. Our jam-packed tour of the city played out like this:

• Thrs: Visited Holyrood Palace, toured the Queen's Gallery, walked the lower half of the Royal Mile, took in a Broadway Musical
• Fri: Walked the upper half of the Royal Mile, visited Edinburgh Castle, visited the Camera Obscura/Museum of Illusions, went on a night-time ghost tour
• Sat: Visited Gladstone's Land, visited the Georgian House, walked Prince's Street and the park, took a nap and put off visiting Rosslyn Chapel until the next day
• Sun: Attempted to see Rosslyn Chapel which would be closed (ooops), headed back to the airport in England, made a mystery detour, and flew home.

Except for my Rosslyn Chapel fiasco, everything went smoothly and hassle-free. Don't worry, you will hear more about that little adventure and the mystery detour later. All major attractions had been pre-booked and paid for online so we got to skip the long waits at the ticket counters and head straight for the front doors. No lines for us!

Because so many things were indoors where photography was not allowed, I am just going to pass on some exterior highlights of the things we did. First is our day at Edinburgh Castle.

The front of the castle was imposing, sure, but not as spectacular as I expected. In fact, it seemed a bit on the small side to me.

Once inside I began to realize why it looked so "small." The exterior walls were deceptive as they were much taller than at first glance and from the perspective on the esplanade, they acted almost as a gate house to the great castle beyond. Inside, it literally unfolded and extended both along the mountain top as well as into the rock itself. It was there, inside, when I became in awe of the dimensions and its sheer strength. Now I was very impressed and boy was it spectacular!

You can see it was rather crowded. Luckily, most of these were guided tour-groups and most stayed for only an hour or so.

Since we lingered for several hours, venturing in and out of the war museums within the castle walls, we easily caught the gaps in between groups and the crowds didn't bother us.

The National Shrine was quite breathtaking. Each branch- including civil reserve, women's core, and medical core- were represented. I found one section of men who died in the War of Independence with the American Colonies. It was a bit eerie to see this perspective from "the other side". Out of respect, people talked in whispers and hushed voices.

We ventured to the top of the ramparts and saw such a stunning view of Edinburgh and beyond. From our vantage point, we could also look down on the dog cemetery- the resting place of those faithful friends who also served their country in times of war or as regimental mascots.

St. Margaret's Chapel was a lovely find. It is the oldest building in the entire city. It was used during the Napoleonic wars as an ammunition store, and only since the Victorian era was it rediscovered and restored.

We stopped in to see the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny, and explored some older buildings within the castle walls. We even saw the very spot where James the 6th and 1st was born.

The daughter had great fun hamming it up with Mons Meg, the massive cannon.

Before we left we decided to explore the underground areas of the castle. Once there, we found the American prisoner of war holding cells used during the War of Independence. It was dark, dank, and cramped. Very little remains of this former use except three doors chiseled with names, dates, and other graffiti left by prisoners held there.

Don't forget you can see larger views and additional pictures in my Scotland 2010 Flickr set.

Vacation Recap: The Harry Potter Castle

Our second day in England took us to one of three castles they used when filming the first two Harry Potter movies. In all honesty, I haven't seen the films nor read the books- but the daughter is a huge fan. That meant I got to fulfill my castle obsession, she fulfilled her Harry Potter obsession, and the husband got to fulfill his cannon and implements of war obsession. It was a win-win-win day for all of us!

We first ventured into the gardens. They were simply amazing.

I don't think there was a rectangular junction of paths anywhere- they all meandered, looped, and whirled. Unfortunately the flowers hadn't popped yet so we had to settle for mainly greenery, but we managed to find a few tulips in bloom. They were imported from the Netherlands, and was our first taste of "home" we would be experiencing throughout our trip.

It was also the first time I have ever seen actual doves in a dove cot.

My daughter was just itching to go on the poison plant tour. It was a special, fenced garden filled with nothing but harmful or fatal trees and plants. Throughout history, each plant had been used before in accidental or even intentional poisonings- including one used a recent murder! Several spooky stories and plenty of warnings were included in our tour. I kept my hands jammed in my pockets the whole time, afraid to touch anything. Yes, I admit it. I am that much of a chicken.

Afterward we finished with a mad dash through the bamboo hedge maze. Well, the daughter dashed....

.... while I went mad and yelled after her "Hand on Wall! Hand on Wall!" We found the end of the maze which had a map. She so kindly volunteered to show us the "you are here" point.

We headed for lunch at the Treehouse Restaurant. I had seen it on the Hairy Biker's Christmas Special and ever since was determined to eat there if I ever got the chance. I mean, how could anyone resist eating in a giant, multi-storied tree house?

The food was delicious. And no, that isn't me getting caught stealing a piece of cheese from the daughter's ploughmen's lunch. Really. What kind of cheese stealing mother do you think I am? It was good by the way. Very tasty.

The interior was lit with thousands of Christmas lights and a few spot lights. Just about everything was made out of wood: menu covers, salt and pepper shakers, sugar dishes. Gnarly branches was used for decor and area dividers while planks and shingles lined the walls. I especially love the tall-backed chairs made out of reclaimed wood.

Afterward we took a quick walk around on the tree-to-tree platform system. It was made out of two large rope bridges and a few paths high above the ground.

Appetites satisfied, we headed back to the main attraction: Alnwick Castle.

It was certainly impressive, made up of an outer defense structure loaded with towers as well as a magnificent interior keep.



The husband had decided to conquer the castle, and this is his victory pose.

Most of the leaded windows were still the originals and hundreds of years old.

From the castle walls, a magnificent view could be seen. Now the only thing that frequents the field of battle are a few hikers and a few hundred sheep.

In the distance I spotted a bridge with a lion statue on it. Later, on our tour of the stately rooms we found out this was called the "Lion's Bridge." Oh those Alnwick Castle builders were a clever lot, weren't they?

And finally, the quickie "do you remember this from the movie?" photo tour. Remember: only the first two films were made here and only the exterior shots were filmed as other castles further south were used for the interior scenes. In the above you can see where the Quidditch matches were filmed, as they used the full grounds all around the keep. But for specific shots, there were two areas pointed out by our tour guide: the flying lessons spot.....

....and the light that Hermione lights with magic.

If you want to see additional shots or larger views of these pictures, you can catch them all on my flickr "England 2010" page.